| 1. | Make the court want your side to win. |
| 2. | Present facts sufficient to support the legal outcome that you want or to undermine your adversary’s legal theory. |
| 3. | Cause the court to focus on—and remember—a handful of facts that most help your client. |
| 4. | Let the court know what happened in your dispute (i.e., who did what to whom and when). |
| 5. | When your clients look like villains, use neutral language and tone to quell hostility toward them. |
| 6. | Build credibility with your reader. |
| 7. | Prune facts ruthlessly to keep the reader interested in your case. |
| 8. | Declaw and reframe bad facts before the other side raises them. |